A Method for Evaluating Performance of it-Centric Businesses Applied to the Domain of Electronic Marketplaces

Abstract

We present a flexible, context-specific, theory-based method for evaluating organizational performance that builds on the competing values framework. Our method consists of two phases, a conceptual and empirical phase, and is operationalized as a set of six steps, three of which address the development of appropriate criteria, while the remaining three address the measurement of performance. We provide a proof-of-concept for the method by applying it to electronic marketplaces (EMPs). Our EMP performance analysis demonstrates that EMPs with higher performance values survived, while those with lower performance values failed. Specifically, our method for evaluating organizational performance explains the survival or demise of 90 percent of the EMPs we examined.

• organizational performance
• IT-centric businesses
• competing values framework
• performance method
• survival